Every year BIFF has been able to attract ever strong film submissions to present to our audiences. The competition is tougher each year. BIFFY award winners represent the very best in feature length narrative and documentaries, short films, both from the Wisconsin/Illinois region to international submissions.

We're proud of our association with these exceptional films and filmmakers. Congratulations to you all.

Welcome filmmakers! We have experienced ourselves and work to share with others the power of film. We work hard to attract and present the very best in independent filmmaking that we can. We invite and appreciate your participation and strive to be your favorite film festival.

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Documentaries

BIFF 2015 Short Film Category

Documentary Shorts

Not that feature length documentaries aren’t a great way to spend part of your hard-earned BIFF time. Occasionally, it can be refreshing to follow a man’s lonely sojourn as he plants two separate plots with common grass seed and fertilizes one organically and one with chemicals typically used by large corporate farms and then sits back in his lawn chair and describes the stop-action progress of each precious blade over a two-month period of time. Scintillating! Or you could just watch these eight brief, but absolutely brilliant and entertaining little gems. Yeah! (Sigh of relief) Pass the organically grown popcorn!

3 Miles East

Synopsis:

Filmmaker Samuel Karow pays tribute to his childhood home in this experimental documentary that is equal parts family portrait and personal rumination.

Over the course of one year, we discover the 40 acre farm property through Karow’s eyes as he faces a major life choice: stay and inherit his parents’ greenhouse business or leave to pursue a career in film.

Food

Synopsis:

This is an animated documentary about FOOD! The documentary, in an ironic and sarcastic way brings attention to food, the way we see it, the way we eat it and the way we think about it. Ranging from vegetarians, vegans, pescetarians to some seriously dedicated carnivores, the conversation offers the perspectives of a wide variety of eaters from around the world.

By pairing real interviews with stop-motion animation, the film bring in discussion about various topics in the food industry including the factory farming, urban environment and life choices all in a slightly humorous, non threatening manner.

They Are The Last

Synopsis:

Leonardo Da Costa is a lighthouse keeper stationed in Cabo Polonio, a remote cape in a stretch of Uruguayan coastline rich in shipwrecks and sunken treasures.

Cabo Polonio’s light has been guiding ships since 1881, and Da Costa is the latest in a long line of watchmen who have operated the tower with care and attention. He leads an unassuming life, the tranquility of the almost intact landscape keeping him company. Serenity and silence merge with the daily tasks and chores he carries out. Da Costa represents a rare profession that still survives in a few countries.

Take some time to appreciate a gentle and enlightening way of life, for once it is gone, it will be missed.

White Earth

Synopsis:

Set against the backdrop of a cruel North Dakota winter, “White Earth” is a tale of an oil boom that has drawn thousands to America’s Northern Plains in search of work.

Told from the perspective of three children and an immigrant mother whose lives are touched by the oil boom, each story intertwines with the others – exploring themes of innocence, home, and the American Dream.

NOTE: Synopsis are typically provided directly by the filmmaker themselves. Sometimes English is not their first language. We ask reader’s understanding for less-than-perfect language and grammar